(Amman) Last month I wrote about the not so secret Jordanian project of building a mini gunship based on an airbus CN-235 transport aircraft rather than on the much larger C-130 class of aircraft. Well, today they unveiled their AC-235 light gunship at the Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference 2014 (SOFEX 2014). And what a little beauty it is.
The primary weapon is a link-fed ATK M230 30mm chain gun that is mounted in the rear cabin to fire through the port-side door. The gun is trainable, and is automatically aimed by the fire control system cued by the aircraft's sensors, while the aircraft flies a left-hand orbit. (It's the same gun as found on an AH-64D/E Apache.)
For target acquisition and tracking, the AC-235 has a synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator and an electro-optical targeting system with bore-sighted laser designator. The fire control system automatically maintains the guns aim-point on a selected point designated by the mission operator using the laser. The AC‑235 is also fitted with defensive countermeasures, including a missile approach warning system and directed infra-red countermeasures.
As well as the gun, the AC-235 can carry AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missiles and rocket pods on stub wings mounted above the fuselage sponsons and it is those rocket pods which are the most interesting thing about this pocket gunship. You see, a few years ago, a tender went out from the US in which to improve on the 2.75" rocket pods found on the sides of helicopters.
Known as Hydra, they gave the air-force a cheap and plentiful solution in keeping the enemies' heads down. Problem was, they were unguided. BAE Systems decided to simply insert into the rocket the homing guidance unit of the Hellfire rocket, and - hey presto - a cheap and unguided rocket becomes a cheap guided one aka APKWS. In tests it has surpassed the maker's expectations, so what better for a pocket gunship than a pocket guided rocket?
Now, why can't the Brits come up with such cost effective solutions for their military?
For target acquisition and tracking, the AC-235 has a synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator and an electro-optical targeting system with bore-sighted laser designator. The fire control system automatically maintains the guns aim-point on a selected point designated by the mission operator using the laser. The AC‑235 is also fitted with defensive countermeasures, including a missile approach warning system and directed infra-red countermeasures.
As well as the gun, the AC-235 can carry AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missiles and rocket pods on stub wings mounted above the fuselage sponsons and it is those rocket pods which are the most interesting thing about this pocket gunship. You see, a few years ago, a tender went out from the US in which to improve on the 2.75" rocket pods found on the sides of helicopters.
Known as Hydra, they gave the air-force a cheap and plentiful solution in keeping the enemies' heads down. Problem was, they were unguided. BAE Systems decided to simply insert into the rocket the homing guidance unit of the Hellfire rocket, and - hey presto - a cheap and unguided rocket becomes a cheap guided one aka APKWS. In tests it has surpassed the maker's expectations, so what better for a pocket gunship than a pocket guided rocket?
Now, why can't the Brits come up with such cost effective solutions for their military?
